Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #28 of Revelation chapter 21 and I am going to read Revelation 21:12-16:
And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
The Greek word “stadion” is a word that is normally translated as “furlongs.” It is only found six times in the New Testament. Five times it is translated as “furlongs” and one time it is translated as “race” in 1Corinthians, chapter 9, where it speaks of the Christian life.
Let us just look at a couple of these places. It says in Luke 24:13:
And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
It says in John 11:18:
Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
I have not been able to find in the Bible the measurement of a “furlong.” Outside of the Bible, people have found information that says that a “furlong” is measured as a certain distance, but that is not coming from the Bible. In order for us to see spiritual merit in the number, we have to see it defined by the Bible. For instance, we looked at the measuring reed and God told us that one reed was equal to six cubits and, therefore, we have Biblical definition for the measurement of a reed as six cubits. Wherever we see that word “reed” we can multiply by six to get the number in cubits.
But, here in Revelation 21, verse 16, God is measuring the spiritual city made up of everyone who became saved and He is measuring that city with the “reed,” so we can see that the reed is in view and if we were to given a distance in reeds, we could convert it to cubits, or vice versa. The city is measured with a reed, but then it says “twelve thousand furlongs” and we do not know how many reeds make up a furlong or how many cubits make up a furlong. We are only given the information that we can use a measuring reed and calculate furlongs. Each furlong would be a certain measure of reeds or of cubits. As of now, God has not revealed the information concerning the measurement of the furlong within the Bible, but there is some interesting information in this verse. Again, it says in Revelation 21:16:
And the city lieth foursquare…
The Greek word translated as “foursquare” is Strong’s #5068. It is a compound word that is only used here. Normally, when we have a word that is only used in one place it makes it much harder to see the spiritual definition, but in this case this compound word is helpful because it is made up of the number “four,” which is Strong’s #5064, and the word “corner” or “quarter,” which is Strong’s #1137. These two words together, literally, we could say are “four corners” or “four quarters.” These two words are used together separately, but not as a compound word, but they are used in the same verse in a couple of different places. For instance, it says in Revelation 7:1:
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Here, it is interesting because God is speaking of the four winds and we saw in our last study from looking at Zechariah 2 and Matthew 24 that God scattered His people to the four winds when they came out of Babylon. The “four winds” is the location where the elect are found in the four points of the earth, which means they are all over the world. But, again, we find that there are four messengers “standing on the four corners of the earth,” and both of our words appear separately in this same verse, so this is helpful because the “four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth,” we know denotes the North, South, East and West.
Also in Revelation 20, these two words are found together in Revelation 20:8:
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
It is clear, again, because Satan’s loosing had a worldwide impact. He was able to make people all over the world follow him and worship him as the beast. So there is no doubt that “four corners” or “four quarters” is a word that relates to “four points” or “foursquare.” You have four directions and that is helpful because as we look at our verse in Revelation 21:16, it says the “city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth.” That means that the measurement we are given of 12,000 furlongs in length would apply to the North, with 12,000 for the South, 12,000 for the East and 12,000 for the West. Then we can add the measurements and add up the furlongs for each of the four corners and it would total 48,000.
Someone might hear that and they might say, “Where do you get justification for that?” Actually, they probably asked that in our last study when we looked at Ezekiel 42:16:
He measured the east side…
Remember, that word “side” is the same word translated as “wind,” so I am going to read it that way:
Again, it says in Ezekiel 42:16-19:
He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred winds, with the measuring reed round about. He measured the north side, five hundred winds, with the measuring reed round about. He measured the south side, five hundred winds, with the measuring reed. He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred winds with the measuring reed.
I added it up during the study and it came to “500 x 4” or “2,000” reeds. Earlier in Ezekiel, God had told us in chapter 40 that one reed is six cubits, so if you have 2,000 reeds, you may multiply by “six” to get the number of cubits, which totals 12,000 cubits. That is the number we keep seeing in the Book of Revelation and that is the number we saw in our verse 16, where it was “12,000 furlongs.” The number “12,000” points to the fullness of whatever is in view and in Ezekiel 42 it is the fullness and completeness of the number of the elect that God had saved.
But, again, someone might say, “Where are you getting the justification for adding up these four measurements God is giving for the East, West, North and South? There is nothing there that tells you to add it together. There is nothing there that says you are doing something the Bible allows by adding up the reeds.” That is a question we want to answer because we always want Biblical justification for what we are saying. We want God to be the one who is directing us into doing that kind of thing. We do not want to just take random numbers and add them together. We want the Lord to show us that it is a proper thing to do.
And He does, if we turn to Ezekiel, chapter 48. You know, these last eight chapters in the Book of Ezekiel are really incredible chapters. God has gone to such lengths and provided much detail. When we read it, one thing for sure is that we are reading about the spiritual city or the spiritual temple of God and God is illustrating through measurements that it is the elect. Then He tells us to “consider the pattern,” and that is because it relates to His salvation program.
Ezekiel 48 is the last chapter and the Lord ends the Book of Ezekiel with a final measurement. It says in Ezekiel 48:30-31:
And these are the goings out of the city on the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures. And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.
I am going to keep reading, but I just want to comment on this. In this passage we find that God breaks down the city into four directions and each direction has three gates. Remember what we read in Revelation 21. God told us there were 12 gates and then He told us there were three gates on the North, South, East and West, which is identical to what Ezekiel wrote, except that Ezekiel goes on to name the gates. That is something else we read back in Revelation 21:12:
And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
So there is no doubt that Ezekiel is speaking of the same city spoken of in Revelation 21, the city comprised of all that God has saved.
Again, it says in Ezekiel 48:31-34:
And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi. And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan. And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun. At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali.
So, here we have the four sides and each side has three gates, but God is giving us an additional measurement. In this case, He is speaking of “4,500” measures and He gives that number for each side or “4,500 x 4.” Then He concludes with that statement in Ezekiel 48:35:
It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, JEHOVAH is there.
This is the same idea as Revelation, chapter 21, when the new Jerusalem came down from heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Then it said in Revelation 21:3:
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
JEHOVAH is there. He dwells within the body of Christ or all those that have become saved. Notice that this is similar to Ezekiel 42 and the 500 reeds assigned to each direction. Here, God speaks of “4,500” measures and identifies that number with each side of the city. Then, in conclusion, He adds them up. What is “4,500 + 4,500 + 4,500 + 4,500”? The Lord does the math for us in verse 35: “It was round about eighteen thousand measures.” God added up each side of the city in each direction and they were each 4,500 measures. You might be interested in breaking that number down or in multiplying that number further because, as far as I know, the measuring tool in the Book of Ezekiel is the “reed.” So even though it is not said that it is 4,500 reeds, the measuring tool is the reed, so we could understand it to be “4,500 reeds” and we could multiply it by “six” to get cubits for each of the points. It does break down to an interesting number, but we are not going to look at it at this time.
But, here, we see that we have permission and allowance from God to take the “four corners” of the city of God (the same city in Revelation, chapter 21) and to add up the four measurements. What happens when we do that back in Revelation 21? We are only given one number. It is “12,000” furlongs, but, again, the “city lieth foursquare.” It is “four corners” and God tells us the length is the same as the breadth. If you were to draw a square with four corners, you would have the four directions of North, South, East and West and it would be “12,000 + 12,000 +12,000 + 12,000” or “4 x 12,000,” and we get “48,000” furlongs.
We can break “48,000” down a couple of different ways. It breaks down to “3 x 10 x 40 x 40.” The number “3” points to purpose; the number “10” points to completeness; and the number “40” points to testing and judgment. Another way we can break this number down is “3 x 10 x 1,600,” and that really catches our attention because God speaks of 1,600 furlongs in Revelation, chapter 14, and we have learned that 1,600 furlongs identifies with 1,600 days from the beginning of judgment on May 21, 2011 to its likely conclusion on October 7, 2015. It is a period of 1,600 total days and God identifies days with furlongs there.
So, what is God doing with the numbers in Revelation 21 with the holy city made up of the elect? When we look at “3 x 10 x 1,600,” we see the number “3” is God’s purpose, the number “10” is completeness. Considering God is speaking of the city of God, it is the purpose of God that it will be completed at the end of “1,600” days; because if we are correct about the 1,600 days and God fulfills all righteousness and all His promises, that is going to be the day that the city is completed in the highest sense. It was a city in which the inhabitants had experienced the first resurrection, but they have not received the completion of their salvation which is to receive their new resurrected bodies. Again, the strong likelihood is that on October 7, 2015 (which is the 1,600th Day of Judgment since May 21, 2011 and the 10,000th overall day since judgment began at the house of God) it is certainly God’s purpose that He bring that city to its final glory by bringing about the completion of salvation with the saints receiving their new spiritual bodies.
So it is very interesting that we find the number “1,600” in view when we see the framework of the city. God is the one that told us in Ezekiel to “measure the pattern.”